Public Statements

Garamendi Urges End to Sequestration to Avoid Unnecessary Flight Delays

Statement

Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, CA), a Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, today called on Congress to end the sequestration after furloughs of air traffic controllers caused substantial delays at airports across the country. He said the following:

"In Congress, just about everyone is a frequent flyer. Going back and forth between the district and Washington, DC is part of the job. For some of my colleagues, today's flight delays, caused by the air traffic controller furloughs in the sequester, were the first day they personally felt direct and immediate harm. I'm hopeful a majority landed today finally realizing that we need to ground sequestration.

"Travelers and air traffic controllers are the latest to suffer from sequestration, now joined by civilian employees in the military losing 14 days of income and educators in a panic caused by deep unfocused cuts to research at our universities.

"I have voted multiple times to end the sequester and have supported more than two trillion dollars in budget cuts. I will continue advocating for a balanced approach to deficit reduction that targets actual waste and ends arbitrary unfocused cuts to many of our nation's most essential investments."